The Bolívar brand is certainly one of the world’s most iconic brands. It is most famous for being a Cuban cigar brand, but there is a non-Cuban version that General Cigar Company has marketed. It’s the brand named after Simón Bolívar, the South American military and political leader who helped lead Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, Ecuador, […]
Cigar Review: Alec & Bradley Blind Faith Toro
j Back in 1996, Alan Rubin founded Alec Bradley Cigar Company, naming it after his two sons, Alec and Bradley. While Alan never pushed his boys into the company, both sons expressed an interest in joining their father in the cigar business. After playing a role in some of the operations of the company, the […]
Agile Cigar Review: AJ Fernandez New World Redondo (TAA Exclusive)
Agile Cigar Reviews are cigar assessments where we use a lightweight, shorter format. These will never take the place of our comprehensive reviews. They are only used on blends we have previously assessed. This might be a blend we are re-scoring or giving a score for the first time. It might be a blend we […]
Cigar Review: E.P. Carrillo Cardinal Impact Maduro No. 52
As I reflect back on the decade 2010 – 2019, if there is one cigar line that continues to have me scratch my head its the E.P. Carrillo Cardinal line. This was a line introduced in 2012 and it was intended to offer a bolder and stronger cigar into the E.P. Carrillo portfolio. The Cardinal […]
Agile Cigar Review: Atabey Ritos by Selected Tobacco
Agile Cigar Reviews are cigar assessments where we use a lightweight, shorter format. These will never take the place of our comprehensive reviews. They are only used on blends we have previously assessed. This might be a blend we are re-scoring or giving a score for the first time. It might be a blend we […]
Cigar Review: BOTL Corona Gorda (2019) by Drew Estate
In 2019, Drew Estate brought back one of its more popular limited releases, the BOTL. The name BOTL stands for “Brothers of the Leaf” and is a forum for the cigar community. The story of the BOTL cigar goes back to 2010. The story has it that a man by the name of Tim Podwika […]
Cigar Review: San Pedro de Macorís Ecuador Robusto by Royal Agio Cigars
For the past five years, Royal Agio Cigars has been positioning itself to expand its premium handmade cigar business in the U.S. market. After a three year run of distribution in the U.S. by Drew Estate, in 2017 Royal Agio Cigars would open its own U.S. headquarters. At the time this occurred, Royal Agio had […]
Cigar Review: Crux Limitada Short Salomone (2019)
Late in 2018, Crux Cigars announced a series of three line extensions known as the Short Salomone Series. It’s a limited production line extension that would add a 6 x 54 Short Salomone vitola to three of Crux Cigars’ lines: Crux Guild, Crux Epicure, and Crux Limitada. Since its launch in 2014, most of the […]
Cigar Review: Henry Clay War Hawk Toro
For many years, there have been three workhorse brands in the Altadis U.S.A. portfolio: Montecristo, Romeo y Julieta, and H. Upmann. There are many other brands in the Altadis portfolio that have gotten a push from time to time. One brand that has received somewhat of a push has been the Henry Clay brand. Henry […]
Cigar Review: Crowned Heads Court Reserve XVIII Corona Gorda
At the 2018 IPCPR Trade Show, Crowned Heads Cigar unveiled a limited production line known as the Crowned Heads Court Reserve XVIII (CHC Reserve XVIII). Crowned Heads has always done an exceptional job at tying a theme and/or a story to each of its releases, and the CHC Reserve XVIII is no exception. Crowned Heads […]